Pressure reducing and regulating valve.



PATENTBD JULY 11, 1905.

s. WILLITS. I PRESSURE REDUCING AND REGULATING VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED APB-.11, 1905.

UNITED STATES Patented July 11, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

PRESSURE REDUCING AND REGULATING VALVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 794,651, dated July 11, 1905.

Application filed April 11, 1905. Serial No. 255,033.

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. WILLITS, of the United States Navy, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pressure Reducing and Regulating Valves, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fluid-pressure reducing and regulating valves employed in conduits for fluid under pressure where constant pressure is desired from a supply of a higher and ofttimes variable pressure; and its object is to provide a simple, compact, and reliable device Whatever may be the variation of the inlet or supply pressure above that of the set delivery or outlet pressure. I attain these objects by the device illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the entire device; Fig. 2, a detailed view of the removable seat of the lower valve-disk; Fig. 3, a vertical or cross section of Fig. 2 on line A B; and Fig. 4 is a detail view of the top end of the valvestem, showing the groove in same for enabling the turning of the valve-stem in making the adjustment of the tension of the spring by which the desired set pressure is regulated through the medium of the screw-threads on same.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The main body 19 of the reducer and regulator is provided with inlet-passage 5 and outlet-passage 6 and with the wall or partition 7 between them and in which partition there are valved openings provided having valve-seats 8 and 9, with the space between them open to the inlet-passage 5.

The regulating-valve is formed with two disks 10 and 1 1, with their faces or seats preferablybeveled and may be made in one piece, or two, as I have shown them. The effective pressure areas of the valve-disks 10 and 11 may be proportioned so that they will balance each other with reference to the fluidpressure in any position, to enable whichI employ the removable valve-seat 8 for the purpose of affording a larger opening in the partition 7 needed in such case for the passage through it of the valve-disk 11 in the assembling of the parts of the valve, inasmuch as in proportioning the valve-disks 10 and 11 the disk 11 becomes of an extreme diameter, about the same as that of the disk 10, and accordingly necessitates the larger opening mentioned. This proportioning for the balance mentioned may be dispensed with and the size of the disk 11 made small enough in its extreme diameter as to pass easily through the port-opening of the seat 8 and the removable seat 8 substituted by a construction of port-opening and valve-seat formed integral with the partition 7, similar to that shown for the valve-seat 9, without departing from the essence of my herein-described invention.

The main body 19 is also provided with the removable bonnets 26 and 27 for convenience in construction and assembling of the various parts of the device.

The regulating-valve is rigidly connected in any suitable and preferred manner to a rod or stem 12, which is in turn secured in a like rigid manner to the end of acorrugated tubular spring 13, the opposite end of which is in a like rigid manner attached to the bonnet 26 of the main body 19, as is shown,for example, on the drawings herewith. For convenience in construction the end of the spring 13 that is attached to the valve-stem 12 is provided with a threaded cap 15, the thread 14 on the valve-stem 12 being provided with a lock-nut 16 and a gasket 17 of lead or other suitable material being placed between said nut and cap for making the connection fluid-tight under the pressure at which the device may be employed. The end of the vave-stem 12 is provided with a slot or groove 30 (shown in the detail view Fig. 4) for the purpose of enabling the turning of the valve-stem 12 in its threaded connec tion with the cap 15 in making the necessary adjustment of the tension in the spring 13 to suit the set pressure to be automatically maintained in the fluid on the delivery or outlet side of the valve. Said adjustment is accomplished by turning the valve-stem 12 until the screw-threads 14, in engagement with those of the cap 15, locate the latter at such position longitudinally on the stem 12 as will eflect the required tension in the corrugations of the tubular spring 13, the stem 12 affording the necessary resistance through the medium of the seat 20, provided at the opposite end of same, consisting of the collar 29 on the stem 12 and hub on bonnet 27, as shown in the drawings. The tendency of the spring 13 when under the proper tension is to keep the valve-ports in partition 7 open. As shown, the device is at rest, as when fluid is not passing through it.

The corrugated tubular spring 13 is made of spring-steel or other suitable material and is proportioned as to its thickness of walls, number and size of corrugations, as also its diameter and length, all according to the conditions as to the intensity of the set pressure desired and the amount of pressure variation between the set ressure and that of the pressure of the supp y of the fluid it may be desired to be employed under, as also as to the properties of the material used in the making of the spring.

A cover 18 is provided for protecting the spring 13 from dirt and injury and is at- .tached, by means of screw-threads, to the bonnet 26, as shown on the drawings. This cover 18 is provided with one of more ventholes 21 for permitting constant atmospheric pressure on the exterior of the corrugated tubular spring 13 and to afford a hold for a spanner-wrench in attaching and detaching same to and from the bonnet 26. I

The bonnet 26 is provided with one or more port-holes 22 for the purpose of admitting freely the fluid-pressure of the outlet or delivery side of the valve to act upon the interior of the corrugated tubular spring 13, the stress of which pressure operating against the tension stress of the spring being the means by which the regulating feature of the device is effected.

The valve-disks 10 and 1 1 are held in alinement by the guide-bearings 23 and 24, supporting the valve-stem 12 where it passes through the bonnet 26, as also into the hub on the bonnet 27, as shown in the drawings. A small port or vent hole 25 is provided in the wall of the hub forming the guide-bearing 24 for purposes readily understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention relates.

The operation of my herein-described invention is as follows: Fluid (which, for eX- ample, may be steam) passing in at inletpassage 5 flows through the valve-ports provided in the partition 7"until a pressure is reached on the outlet or delivery side of the valve corresponding to that at which the spring 13 has been previously set, when that pressure acting upon the interior of the spring 13 overcomes the tension stress of its corrugations and results in closing or partly closing the valve-ports in the partition 7, thus regulating the flow of the steam or fluid, and consequently the quantity of the delivery of the valve, to the demand of maintaining the predetermined pressure at which the spring 13 has been adjusted for.

It is obvious to those skilled in the art to which my herein-described invention relates that the corrugated tubular spring 13, which is of the essence of my said invention, may be employed in that class or type of pressure regulating or limiting valves commonly called safety or relie valves, and therefore I do not confine the ap lication or use of said spring to the particu ar form of device herein described, and shown on the herewith-accompanying drawings.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A fluid-pressure relief, or a pressure reducing and regulating valve, provided with a corrugated tubular spring; in combination with a solid and rigidly-connected pressureadjustment valve-stem, and a valve-stem joint-gasket and lock-nut; all substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

2. In a fluid-pressure reducer and regulator, a main body 19, provided with an inlet-passage 5, an outlet-passage 6, and partition 7, separating said passages and having valved openings therethrough; in combination with a corrugated tubular spring 13 rigidly connected, by means of the solid valve-stem 12, to the valve forming a part of said valved openings; all substantially as and for the purposesshown and described.

3. In a fluid-pressure reducer and regulator, a main body 19, provided with an inlet-passage 5, and an outlet-passage 6, and a partition 7, separating said passages and having a valved opening therethrough pro vided with a removable valve-seat 8; in combination with a corrugated tubular spring 13 rigidly connected, by means of the solid valve-stem 12, to the valve forming a part of said valved opening; all substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

4. A fluid-pressure reducer and regulator, consisting of a main body 19, provided with removable bonnets 26 and 27, and an inlet-passage 5 and an outlet-passage 6, and a partition 7, separating said passages and having valved openings therethrough one of which being rovided with a removable valve-seat 8; in combination with valvedisks 10 and 11 secured, by means of a nut 28 and a collar 29, to a valve-stem 12, provided with a threaded connection to a cap of a lock-nut 16 and gasket 17. said cap being also provided with a screw-threaded con- In testimony whereof I have signed my nection t0 the end of a corrugated tubular name to this specification in the presence of spring 13, the opposite end of which is attwo subscribing Witnesses.

tached, also by means of screw-threads, to GEO. S. WILLITS. said bonnet 26, and the cover 18 for protect- Witnesses: ing said spring; all substantially as andfor the JAs. NELSON ALEXANDER,

purposes shown and described. ROBT. D. KINNEY. 

